Disparities in Age at Diabetes Diagnosis Among Asian Americans: Implications for Early Preventive Measures

Abstract

We evaluated the association between Asian American ethnicity and age at diagnosis for type 2 diabetes using data from the California Health Interview Survey. Survey-weighted unadjusted and adjusted linear regressions were used to obtain mean estimates of age at diagnosis. In the adjusted regression model, ages at diagnosis were 10.5, 8.7, 8.4, and 4.2 years earlier among South Asian, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Korean populations, respectively, as compared to non-Hispanic whites; no significant difference in age at diagnosis was noted for Chinese and Japanese populations. Recommendations for diabetes screening and preventive measures specific to Asian American populations are warranted.

Human pancreatic islet 3D chromatin architecture provides insights into the genetics of type 2 diabetes

“…To validate the T2D case-control definition based on ICD10 codes, we estimated the association statistics for well-established T2D loci. We used 15,764 T2D cases (accounting for information about age of diagnosis) and 184,030 controls that were filtered to avoid any contamination of pre-diabetic individuals (no family history of diabetes mellitus and age at recruitment ≥ 55, consistent with the average age at onset of T2D reported in Caucasian populations 85 ). The association statistics under an additive model for 74 known T2D associated variants were estimated by applying logistic regression in PLINK v1.9 36 , and adjusting for 7 principal components (estimated by UK Biobank investigators), BMI, age at recruitment, batch information and sex.…”

Errors Associated with Aggregating Asian American Ethnic Groups in Diabetes Research, Education, and Clinical Practice

“…The resultant aggregation of Asian American ethnic groups (as per published articles) into Asian American can include these Asian ethnic groups living in the United States: South Asian [2], Sri Lankan [4], Pakistani [4], Burmese [4], Cambodian [4],Malaysian [4], multiracial [2,4], Chinese [2,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10], Asian Indian [4][5][6], Korean [4-6, 8, 9], Vietnamese [4,[6][7][8]10], Filipino [4,[6][7][8][9][10], Japanese [4,7,8], other [8], and/or Hmong [10]. Sometimes, aggregation is expanded to include members of the Pacific Islander ethnic groups [11].…”

“…Statistically speaking, the samples used in aggregated studies are not representative of the composition of the Asian American community as a whole. This is compounded by the use of self report data [7,8] or very small sample size (e.g., 12 persons of Asian ethnicity) [12]. For example, some studies utilized data collected via a statewide survey [7,8].…”

“…This is compounded by the use of self report data [7,8] or very small sample size (e.g., 12 persons of Asian ethnicity) [12]. For example, some studies utilized data collected via a statewide survey [7,8]. As such, no confirmation was obtained on their specific ethnicity or health problems.…”

Development of a Mobile Phone-Based Weight Loss Lifestyle Intervention for Filipino Americans with Type 2 Diabetes: Protocol and Early Results From the PilAm Go4Health Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Major contributors to the high prevalence of Filipino obesity-related chronic diseases include a genetic predisposition to abdominal fat distribution, cultural preferences for a high fat diet, and sedentary behavior [ 5 , 6 ]. Furthermore, as a community-oriented society, Filipinos harbor cultural beliefs with insular tendencies that limit their willingness to readily engage in Western health care practices [ 7 , 8 ]. Although Filipinos are one of the fastest growing US immigrant racial/ethnic populations, they are seriously underrepresented in preventive health research [ 9 ].…”